What Happened On This Day January 7 In F1 History?

What happened on this day, January 7 in Formula 1 history? Find out interesting facts and stories about Formula 1 on this day.

1923

Jean Lucien Bonnet was born in Nice, France. He competed in the 1959 Monaco Grand Prix in a Cooper T45 but failed to qualify. Bonnet tragically died in a Formula Junior race accident in Sicily in 1962 at the age of 39.

1939

Brausch Niemann, a South African driver, was born in Durban. A mechanic by trade, he entered the 1963 South African Grand Prix in a Lotus 22 but failed to qualify for the 1965 event. He later switched to enduro motorcycle racing, winning the South African championship in 1979. He eventually retired to Pembrokeshire, Wales.

1946

Mike Wilds was born in Chiswick, London. Wilds participated in three Formula 1 Grands Prix between 1974 and 1976 but failed to qualify for another five. He remained active in motorsport and worked as a helicopter and race instructor after his racing career.

1964

Reg Parnell, a driver and team manager, died at age 52 following a routine appendix operation. Parnell was a leading British driver in the immediate post-war era and competed in the inaugural F1 championship in 1950. He won the 1957 New Zealand Grand Prix (not part of the F1 Championship) before moving into management with Aston Martin and later establishing his own F1 team Reg Parnell Racing, in 1960. At the time of his death, he was building a promising outfit and had recently signed world motorbike champion Mike Hailwood.

1985

The birth of an F1 superstar, Lewis Hamilton, the 2008, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 Formula 1 world champion, was born in Tewin, Hertfordshire. Named after American sprinter Carl Lewis, Hamilton’s first experience with motorsport came in 1991 when his father, Anthony, gifted him a remote-control car. Despite excelling as a schoolboy footballer—playing alongside future Aston Villa and England midfielder Ashley Young—Hamilton pursued racing, became F1’s youngest champion in 2008, and one of the most decorated drivers in F1 history. His paternal grandparents emigrated from Grenada to the UK in the 1950s, with his grandfather Oliver working on the London Underground.

2005

Two months after acquiring Jaguar F1, Red Bull appointed Christian Horner as its sporting director, replacing Jaguar team principal Tony Purnell and managing director David Pitchforth. Horner, the owner of the Arden team where Tonio Liuzzi had recently won the Formula 3000 title, faced a shocked team at the Milton Keynes factory. The Times described the move as a surprise, given the respect Purnell and Pitchforth had earned for their efforts to revive the struggling team. FIA president Max Mosley had even called Purnell one of the most intelligent team principals in F1.

F1 Driver Birthdays 7 January

F1 Driver Deaths 7 January